The Holidays, Afghan Restaveks and Diaper Fetishers
- During my holiday blogging hiatus, I read several interesting books.
- I highly recommend The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini--which I am still reading-- especially if you found yourself enthralled with my second to last Restavek post. That is because Runner is essentially about an Afghan version of a restavek, Hassan, but written from the perspective of the boy Hassan spent his life serving. Very compelling book although the end has one or two overly melodramatic twists and turns.
- I also read Are Men Necessary? by Maureen Dowd which I received through my family's secret santa pool. No, no, no, I don't hate men and neither does Ms. Dowd. The book is basically an update for those who wonder what has become of those women who did burn bras in the 60s and of their daughters.
- The answer may or may not be warm and fuzzy as it involves plastic surgery and lots of frivolousness for everyone except maybe ... Hillary Clinton, whose determination to stay true to her 60s' style feminism is a focal point of the book. Oh and let's not forget the surprising diaper fetish among my cohort. Apparently, despite the prized "three letters after our names" --to borrow MBAyisyen's phrase-- Gen X/Y women don't seem to think the corporate ladder is worth the hassle.
4 comments:
I can't tell which generation of feminists you belong to. I can easily figure out, you're too young for the first wave Dowd is talking about.
What's this reading books about servants thing?
I've been doing some reading about Haiti, with the election coming up, hopefully this century.
Regards.
I posted on my blog, a post about the Haitian elections. I'd like your feedback.
Hi Renegade,
Sorry for delay in getting back. I'll take a look at your post as soon as I get a chance.
And about restaveks: that is
actually a huge human rights problem in Haiti. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights has a whole campaign centered around it. Check out their webpage about it as well as ways you can help. It's a worthwhile issue as far as I'm concerned and it's definitely worthwhile looking at how other cultures and countries deal with it.
Here are some links:
http://www.nchr.org/hrp/restavek/help_eliminate.htm
http://www.nchr.org/hrp/restavek/introduction.htm
I just typed in "restaveks" in Google and your comments came up. I have been interested in Haiti for about 70 years and had never heard of the restaveks until I somehow came across several articles done in the Cincinnati Post back in 2001. I don't know how I came across them and couldn't find them again, but they mentioned Jean-Robert Cadet who was a restavek as a child and was then living in Cincinnati. He wrote a book called "From Haitian Slave Child to Middle Class American". I own a bookstore and just ordered it from Ingram.
I will check out the website you mention, and would be VERY interested in any further information you may have.
Betty M.
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